This invention relates generally to microwave switching devices and more particularly to semiconductor microwave switching devices.
As is known in the art, one type of semiconductor microwave switching device is a p-i-n diode; however, such device is generally limited in switching time to greater than one nsec and has an insertion loss which increases with frequency from approximately 0.5 db at 10 GHZ to around 1 db at 18 GHZ.
Another type of switching device is a field effect transistor (FET). Such devices have substantial advantage over p-i-n devices because, inter alia, the FET can amplify an input signal. One type of FET includes a pair of gate electrodes positioned between source and drain electrodes. In some applications, as where a microwave signal is to be switched to one of a plurality of loads selectively in accordance with a switching signal, a corresponding plurality of these dual gate FET's would generally have to be electrically interconnected with electrical conductors. At microwave frequencies these conductors produce parasitic inductances and/or capacitances which affect the electrical characteristics of the device and reduce the efficiency of the overall circuit.